My grandmother had an old milk cow she called Ole Heart. Ole Heart helped my grandmother make ends meet. She would sell excess milk and butter to various folks around town that preferred their milk straight from the cow rather than the supermarket. She would get a calf from Ole Heart once a year that she raised for beef and put in her freezer. She and the cow had been together many years.
During the day Ole Heart roamed in the pasture doing her cow thing. My grandmother milked her twice a day best as I can remember. She had Ole Heart trained to come to call, “Suuuuooookkkk, suuuuoookkkk, here cow, suuuuuoookkkkk, suuookkk, suuuuoooookkkk.”
The gate between the pasture and barnyard had seen better days. Across the bottom of it was a piece of wire running from gate post to gate post. The wire helped stabilize the old gate. In order not to trip, Ole Heart had to step over this wire. After years of being called to the barnyard she did this naturally, unfailing.
For reasons unknown to me, but I am assuming that there was no other option the gate was rebuilt. As part of the re-fabrication the wire across the bottom was removed. Funny thing was that until the end of her days, Ole Heart stepped over that wire. That is just what she did naturally, unfailing.
It strikes me that we are like Ole Heart, things change yet we continue to do what we do whether it is needed or not. Or even it is still effective or not. Habit, tradition and inertia are powerful forces for the person and for society. That is just what we do naturally, unfailing.
I think that Ole Heart found a way to not hurt herself and she trusted it. Even when the danger was not there, it was part of her daily tradition.. We want to hold on to things that have served us well. When our circumstances change, we can take a long to transition with the change and find new ways of trusting